The datasets used in this project are a dataset of fires from MTBS and datasets of AQI from 2017 to 2021 from CBSA. The fires dataset contains information about 2,064 wildfires from 2017 to 2021. The AQI dataset has 97,243 AQI observations of states in the U.S. from 2017 to 2021. The average national AQIs for every year are 39.46, 38.87, 37.32, 36.74, 39.36, ordered from 2017 to 2021. TODO Complete summary paragraph with two other variables from sum_info.R.
| State_Abbr | State | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | Total_Burned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA | California | 1296654 | 1579806 | 255278 | 4567669 | 262862 | 7962269 |
| AK | Alaska | 704330 | 396222 | 2522419 | 176796 | 0 | 3799767 |
| OR | Oregon | 724833 | 778701 | 61223 | 1065413 | 0 | 2630170 |
| NV | Nevada | 1099528 | 932239 | 72780 | 259408 | 48828 | 2412783 |
| AZ | Arizona | 379404 | 141978 | 348403 | 940504 | 3508 | 1813797 |
| ID | Idaho | 664274 | 556852 | 263978 | 291052 | 18276 | 1794432 |
| WA | Washington | 400869 | 404137 | 147970 | 764346 | 11622 | 1728944 |
| MT | Montana | 1183049 | 89883 | 43309 | 305524 | 0 | 1621765 |
| CO | Colorado | 97261 | 424061 | 32704 | 648440 | 0 | 1202466 |
| UT | Utah | 228564 | 492880 | 79806 | 312244 | 9705 | 1123199 |
| TX | Texas | 503074 | 310529 | 95958 | 146480 | 0 | 1056041 |
| KS | Kansas | 700112 | 42629 | 20713 | 22773 | 0 | 786227 |
| OK | Oklahoma | 245166 | 475227 | 21211 | 30213 | 0 | 771817 |
| WY | Wyoming | 113701 | 216635 | 34040 | 262558 | 0 | 626934 |
| NM | New Mexico | 120515 | 313923 | 66652 | 106910 | 0 | 608000 |
| FL | Florida | 189940 | 145099 | 22965 | 54296 | 49629 | 461929 |
| GA | Georgia | 166737 | 738 | 2277 | 0 | 771 | 170523 |
| SD | South Dakota | 65062 | 0 | 0 | 9083 | 0 | 74145 |
| HI | Hawaii | 1591 | 15617 | 13445 | 0 | 0 | 30653 |
| MS | Mississippi | 10617 | 3936 | 0 | 10698 | 0 | 25251 |
| MN | Minnesota | 0 | 17233 | 1293 | 1468 | 0 | 19994 |
| LA | Louisiana | 503 | 2348 | 13717 | 1491 | 0 | 18059 |
| NC | North Carolina | 8380 | 2400 | 0 | 2076 | 4533 | 17389 |
| NE | Nebraska | 0 | 0 | 7587 | 9207 | 0 | 16794 |
| NJ | New Jersey | 4189 | 827 | 8182 | 2952 | 0 | 16150 |
| SC | South Carolina | 3025 | 3093 | 3406 | 0 | 1258 | 10782 |
| MO | Missouri | 2234 | 3955 | 3276 | 1137 | 0 | 10602 |
| KY | Kentucky | 2199 | 541 | 1900 | 0 | 3654 | 8294 |
| MD | Maryland | 7743 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7743 |
| AR | Arkansas | 4543 | 2410 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6953 |
| VA | Virginia | 2309 | 2734 | 769 | 509 | 0 | 6321 |
| AL | Alabama | 0 | 0 | 3618 | 941 | 624 | 5183 |
| ND | North Dakota | 5056 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5056 |
| WV | West Virginia | 587 | 0 | 1327 | 0 | 0 | 1914 |
| PA | Pennsylvania | 0 | 711 | 0 | 790 | 0 | 1501 |
| TN | Tennessee | 1080 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1080 |
| MA | Massachusetts | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 964 | 964 |
| NY | New York | 0 | 658 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 658 |
| CT | Connecticut | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DE | Delaware | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| IL | Illinois | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| IN | Indiana | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| IA | Iowa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ME | Maine | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MI | Michigan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NH | New Hampshire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| OH | Ohio | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| RI | Rhode Island | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| VT | Vermont | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| WI | Wisconsin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
This table shows the amount of acres burned in every state, sorted by total acres burned. We included this table since we are trying to see if there is a correlation between wildfires and AQI, so it’s useful to be aware of wildfire hot spots.
TODO Add “why you included the table, and what information it reveals (California has most, states next to Pacific Ocean in general have more, etc).
In order to see which states have had the most acres burned by wildfires, we decided to make a choropleth that maps each state with the total acres burned by wildfires from 2017 to 2021. This chart is color encoded by acres burned. White represents 0 acres burned while dark red represents 8 million acres, which is fitting since red is associated with fire. States can be hovered for detailed information such as state name and the totals for every year. As shown, California has the most acres burned by far, and generally the west coast seems to be more prone to wildfire burnage, including Alaska.
In order to see if there is a relationship between wildfires and AQI, we decided to make a scatter plot that graphs total burned acres with average AQI in 2021 for all states. A scatterplot was used since trends between two variables can be spotted. If there is a correlation, there should be some sort of line that shows up. Since not all states had wildfires in 2021, only the ones that had are graphed. Hovering over a point shows the state and the specific numbers. As shown, while there are strong cases like California with the worst AQI and most acres burned, most of the remaining states are fairly inconclusive.
In order to see the AQI in Washington, we decided to make a line chart of the AQI in 2021. TODO Fill out “why you included the chart and what information it reveals, including notable observations and insights from the chart.”